Zabel was born in New York City, New York und grew up in Manhattan. In his early years he became inspired by theater and went to Princeton in 1984 with the aim to become a poet. He graduated in English literature and drama in 1988 and attended the Graduate Acting Program at Tisch School of Arts where he graduated in 1992. [1]

But Zabel still wanted to write and wrote samples for the television series NYPD Blue, Ally McBeal, and ER before he was hired to write two episodes of JAG (1998-1999) prior to his writing credit on Voyager. Zabel then became story editor on the science fiction series Dark Angel in 2000 where he worked with actor John Savage. He remained on the series for its first season and also wrote the stories for five episodes. In 2001, Zabel moved as executive story editor to the eight season of the award winning drama series ER. He worked as writer of 43 episodes, producer, supervising producer, co-executive producer, and executive producer on ER for eight years until it was cancelled in 2009. During its last year, Zabel also directed the two episodes "Heal Thyself" and "What We Do" and worked with series regular Scott Grimes and recurring guest star Leland Orser. In 2007, he received a Humanitas Prize in the 60 Minute Category for the episode "There Are No Angels Here", shared with R. Scott Gemmill. Two years later he received another nomination for the episode "Heal Thyself".

Following a short stint as writer, executive producer and showrunner on the 2013 drama series Lucky 7, Zabel became showrunner on the drama serues Betrayal in 2013. Currently he is working as executive producerand writer on the series which features Trek alumni James Cromwell in its cast. Zabel also directed the first season episode "...A Better Place" in 2013.